(A/N: I must admit, while I am excited to get started on the new chapter, I am a bit nervous about it because of the amount of content. It's the parallel to the episode "Tunnel Vision", like most of the episodes of the series, it starts off simple, but then things start to get complicated. I've been managing it pretty well with the past nine chapters, but this one is definitely going to be a big challenge for me to write.

I hope everyone enjoys this, even if I don't do my best because the format is not what I usually do. It's going to be a doozy for me, but hopefully enjoyable for you, my lovely readers.)

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"Cut him off!" Stoick commanded. "Make sure he doesn't escape!"

Hiccup and Toothless tried to cut him off from running away, but were too late. "I didn't think he could move that fast. Astrid! He's headed your way!"

"On it! Stormfly, spine shot," she ordered.

Her dragon did as she was told and whipped her tail, shooting down her spines. Her target: Gobber. The reason? To get him into the tub to give him a bath, he's causing misery in the town with his foul stench.

"I won't do it, Stoick, and you can't make me!" he asserted. "None of you can make me!"

"Keep him surrounded!" Stoick commanded again.

"A Viking is supposed to smell this way!" he protested. "It's a badge of honor."

A Terrible Terror climbs up onto his shoulder and sniffs his mustache. It quickly flies away to get away, only to fall to the ground.

Fishlegs and Helene were at the well with their dragons, pulling up water from it. They had to get it filled up quickly before Gobber had the chance to get away.

Fishlegs was pulling his bucket out of the well, "Hurry, we have to get the tub filled so that we can give Gobber his bath."

"Yeah, for the sake of the whole town," Helene remarked, pulling up her bucket as well.

They were finally able to get him into the tub and Stoick held him down to make sure he stayed in. "Fishlegs! Helene! Soap and water, now!"

Smog quickly flew over with the soap in his mouth and the bucket Helene pulled up in his claws. Fishlegs flew over on Meatlug with his bucket in hand. Smog dropped the soap and he and Fishlegs dumped the water on Gobber, but there was very little. Gobber looked up at Stoick triumphantly when he realized the water was just a splash.

"You're going to have to do better than that," Stoick pointed out flatly.

"We can't, the well ran dry," Helene informed him.

He went up to the well to see for himself, he couldn't see any water in it. He put a bucket down there and pulled it back up, but all that was in it was a few drops.

He was perplexed by this, "We just dug that well two summers ago."

"Water doesn't just disappear," Hiccup uttered.

"Yeah, there has to be a reason," Helene added.

Stoick sighed, "We'll have to dig a new well. And until that's done we'll have to ration water. Which means…"

"No more baths!" Gobber happily finished, putting his arm around Hiccup, who gagged. "Always a silver lining."

The riders immediately went to the Academy to talk about the situation. They needed to figure it out quickly and find a way to remedy it in the meantime.

"We need to find a way to keep Berk supplied with water until a new well can be dug. Ruff, Tuff, you strap on the washtub and head to Lars Lake to fill it," Hiccup addressed.

"Okay, but that thing's pretty big," Tuffnut's voice was full of laughs. "I mean it's bigger than Ruff's butt. It could take a while, a week or two." He grunted when Ruffnut punched him in the shoulder.

"Well, I assumed you would use your dragon," he deadpanned.

"Why would you think that?" he asked.

"Because-" He dragged a hand down his face, "Okay, moving on. Astrid, Snotlout, head to the mountain streams and fill as many canteens as you can."

"Mountain streams. Romantic-" Snotlout tried to put his arm around Astrid, but she threw him over her shoulder.

"Helene, you and Smog go to the river in the forest and fill up as many buckets as you can carry," he told her.

She nodded, "Will do."

Finally, he turned to Fishlegs and Meatlug, "Fishlegs, Meatlug, you're going to help me figure out what happened inside that well."

"Um, you may not know this, but Meatlug and I don't do well in tight spaces," he nervously replied. His dragon growled in agreement.

Everyone went off to their assigned destinations with their dragons. Helene and Smog carried many buckets from the Academy to the river that ran almost parallel to the village. They were easy to carry on the way there since they were empty, but they may have to make more than one trip to get all of the buckets back to the village once full.

She put the last bucket into the water and stood up once it was filled. "Okay, that's the last of them. Let's get these back to town."

They picked up some of the buckets, but would have to leave the rest to come back for later. She could only carry two at a time because any more would hurt her fingers and cause pain in her arms. Smog carried three, one for his mouth and one each for both his front and hind legs, it was weighty, but he would manage, he was stronger now that he was an adult.

They set the five buckets down when they eventually made it back to the village and people immediately flocked to them to get water. Not wanting to get in between desperate people and their thirst, they went back for the rest of the water.

When they arrived back, there were sudden tremors coming from underground. They dropped the water when they saw the cause of the tremors, Whispering Deaths, three to be exact.

One of them appeared before Gustav, a boy who wanted to be a Dragon Rider, and it looked like it was starving. And he just happened to be the same size as a sheep, a food source of Whispering Deaths.

"Smog, save him!" she commanded.

He immediately rushed over to Gustav and grabbed him, taking him safely away. The Whispering Death was not happy at all that its meal was gone.

It turned its attention to her and growled as its eyes narrowed hungrily at her. Its mouth opened wide, revealing the spinning rows of razor sharp teeth.

Her pupils dilated with fear and she screeched out for her dragon, "Smog!"

Smog whipped his body around and quickly made his way to her, but he doubted he would be able to make it in time. His body was sore after lifting all of those buckets and Gustav, he wouldn't be able to save the most valuable person to him, he wasn't strong enough.

Suddenly, a flame was shot at the Whispering Death and it flew away. It was a flame she immediately recognized.

She looked up and smiled, "Astrid! Stormfly! Thank Odin!"

Smog came to her and chirped happily, nudging her face with his, "I'm alright, boy. Really, I'm fine."

"Hey, need a lift?" Astrid reached her hand down to her.

She reached up and took it, "Thanks, Astrid." Once safely up on Stormfly's back, she asks, "Where did these Whispering Deaths even come from?"

"Yeah, and why are they much smaller?" she also asked.

"They must be hatchlings," Fishlegs answered.

"And that's good, right?" Helene questioned.

"Actually, it's not. Newly hatched Whispering Deaths can be more dangerous than adults. They don't have any control of their jaw muscles or their spines. They're kind of like out of control saw blades," he explained, twirling his fingers like saw blades would.

"Sounds about right," Astrid uttered to her. She then noticed another Whispering Death going after someone, "Stormfly, fire." She roared and fired at it. "We can hit them better when they're above ground."

Helene then noticed that Ruffnut and Tuffnut were just hovering on Barf and Belch, watching the chaos happily. "What are you two doing?"

"Whispering Deaths," Ruffnut replied. "I could watch them all day."

"The way they rip through solid rock, it's glorious." Tuffnut started to sniffle and his eyes got watery.

"Uh, are you crying?" his twin smirked.

He tried to deny it, "No! Maybe. Don't judge me!"

A Whispering Death then suddenly appeared behind them. They were so distracted by the destruction throughout the town that they didn't even notice.

"Uh, guys," Fishlegs pointed behind them.

They looked and saw the dragon, it screeched at them once they made eye contact with it. Barf quickly let out his gas while Belch sparked it, creating an explosion that chased it away.

Another Whispering Death then snuck up behind Stormfly. Before it could attack them, it was chased away by a plasma blast to the back. It screeched at Hiccup and Toothless and retreated back underground.

"We need to flush it out," Hiccup stated.

"Yeah, we do! That's the one that took my water!" Snotlout yelled.

He dove down and Hookfang fired into the hole the Whispering Death retreated into. Flames erected out of them and it flew out of one of them with a panicked shriek.

Hiccup went into Gobber's shop to get his Gronckle Iron shield. It's reflective face was more than sufficient enough to chase the Whispering Deaths away with their primary weakness: sunlight.

Just to be sure that it would work, he shined it at one of them, causing it to hiss and immediately fly away from the searing pain. "Rule number one: never forget a dragon's weakness."

Using the shield, he was able to chase them out of the village. The other riders flew behind him with their dragons firing at the fleeing Whispering Deaths for good measure.

"That's right! You better run!" Snotlout jeered.

"I'm gonna miss those guys. They were, like, dangerous, but cool at the same time. Kind of like me," Tuffnut put a hand on his chest.

"I don't think this is over yet. Not by a long shot," Hiccup muttered.

"Stop being so negative! Enjoy the moment, Hiccup. By some water," Snotlout pointed his thumb by at the village.

Suddenly, the entire island seemed to shake with an intensity that even they could clearly feel in the air on their dragons. Then, a massive, all white dragon with red streaks and blood red eyes emerged from the ground and roared at them.

"Uh, so that's what I was afraid of," Hiccup mumbled. "Uh, suggestions, anyone?"

It began to attack them, causing them to break apart and shout in fear. By the gods, its fierceness and ferocity was more than enough to render even the toughest Viking to a whimpering baby.

Which was exactly what Snotlout was, "What is that thing?"

It growled and went after them, but they were able to avoid it. It no longer went after them and began to terrorize the town.

"Ah, Fishlegs? Is that in the book of dragons?" Hiccup asked him. He didn't respond, he was mumbling incoherently. "Fishlegs!" he yelled, snapping him out of it. "Is that thing in the book of dragons?"

"Uh, definitely not," he finally answered.

"Are you sure?" he inquired.

"Hiccup, I am certain I would have remembered an all white, Boulder Class, titan-wing Whispering Death with bright red eyes that bore a hole right through your very soul!" he dramatically shouted.

"Toothless, plasma blast!" Hiccup ordered.

He complied with his demand and shot at the large, white dragon. It whipped its body around and let out an ear-splitting scream, which seemed to cause the dragons to struggle with their flying.

Helene covered her ears, "It's affecting our dragons!"

Astrid did the same thing, "No kidding!"

"I know. That scream is disorienting them," Hiccup concluded.

The screaming eventually stopped and it turned its attention back to the people in the village. It was a huge relief to the riders, their ears were liable to go deaf at any second.

"Screaming Death, I love it!" Tuffnut yelled excitedly. At that moment, the Whispering Deaths flew right over his head, "Okay, maybe 'love' is too strong a word."

"Hiccup, what are we gonna do?" Helene asked.

"Yeah, we need to stop this before it gets out of hand," Astrid added.

"You're right," he responded. "You guys focus on the Whispering Deaths, I'll try to keep the Screaming Death busy."

"Okay! Have fun! See ya!" Snotlout called out to him.

"Remember your flight club training!" he yelled as they split up.

"I knew we should have gone that day," Tuffnut grumbled.

"Astrid, I have an idea," Helene told her.

"Okay, let's hear it," she replied. She whispered her idea into her ear and her eyes lit up. "That's a good idea! I think it could work."

She then looked in the direction of Snotlout and called out to him, "Snotlout, you and Hookfang follow us!" He was leaning over his dragon, winking at them, causing both to look away in disgust.

Helene then held up a hand and snapped her fingers. Hookfang saw this and ignited his body for a moment before stopping.

Snotlout smelled smoke coming from somewhere, but didn't know where. That was until he felt the burning, stinging feeling in his rear end, causing him to scream in pain and panic.

Helene covered her mouth with her hand and laughed to herself. Who knew that Snotlout's misery was so hilarious? You learn something new every day.

"You've got to show me how to do that," Astrid commented as she watched Snotlout and his screams.

They flew over the village and saw one of the three Whispering Deaths ripping up the inside of a sheep pen. It was pushing them into a corner so that it would be easier to kill and eat them.

"Down there!" Helene pointed down at the sheep pen. "Smog, get its attention and lead it to the forest."

He squawked in response and flew down there to do just that. He appeared in front of it and blew smoke into its mouth, causing it to cough. He flew away in the direction of the forest, the Whispering Death roared in anger and followed him.

"Let's go!" Astrid stated as they headed towards the forest.

Smog led it through the trees and thick brush, doing his best to keep it distracted while the others were on their way. His small body made it difficult for it to keep track of him, but it somehow managed to stay on his tail.

Finally, once he was far enough into the forest, he created a cover smoke cloud to hide in. The Whispering Death had no idea where to go, giving him the pretty opportunity to fly up onto a tree branch, safely away from the spiny dragon.

The three riders followed the trail and saw the smoke cloud in the trees. Stormfly shot down at it and the Whispering Death screamed at them. It flew up and began to fly after them through the trees.

"Split up!" Helene shouted at Snotlout. "It can't follow both dragons."

"I don't get it." He then thought about it for a second and realized that it made sense, "Oh, yeah, good idea." He and Hookfang flew off in another direction, "This is gonna be fun, Hookfang!"

"Stormfly, evasive maneuvers," Astrid ordered.

She obeyed by leading it away from Snotlout and Hookfang while they prepared for their trap. The other dragon screamed as it followed closely behind them, determined to catch up to them.

She then led it to the trap by following the scents of both of them. Snotlout's stink was distinctively pungent when combined with Hookfang's flammable gel.

They flew right into the path of the trap and Snotlout shouted, "Now, Hookfang!"

Hookfang released the pine tree from his jaw and it flung at the Whispering Death. It fell to the forest floor with a scream before flying away, having had enough of them.

"Oops, I hate it when that happens," Astrid remarked.

"Doesn't everyone?" Helene jokingly asked.

She cupped the side of her mouth and did the Smothering Smokebreath dragon call. Smog quickly flew over to her as soon as it hit his ears.

She scratched under his chin, "Good boy, you did a good job." He chirped happily.

"Hey, you couldn't have done it without us!" Snotlout interjected.

'Oh, of course we couldn't have,' she thought sarcastically.

"C'mon, let's go help Hiccup and Toothless," Astrid told them.

They quickly flew off in the direction of the village, but Hiccup, Toothless, and the Screaming Death were nowhere in sight. Where were they? They got the answer to that mystery when a roar could be heard somewhere near the sea stacks.

"There! The sea stacks!" Astrid and Helene spoke in unison, pointing in the direction of the roar.

They immediately went in that direction, flying as fast they could. Before long, they could finally see them, fleeing the sharp, lethal maw of the massive dragon behind them.

Helene pointed at them, "He's down there!"

"Stormfly, fire!" Astrid commanded.

She fired at the Screaming Death, the flame was so bright and strong that it fell back as it shook off the effects of her fire. It was certainly much stronger than it was expecting it to be.

Astrid flew up beside Hiccup, "Need a little help?"

He was very glad to see them, "More than a little, it doesn't have the Whispering Death's weakness, it goes after the sunlight."

"So, how do we beat it?" she asked.

He thought about it for a second before he came up with an idea, "We give it what it wants! I'll keep it following me, you guys get behind and hit it with everything you have."

Helene gave him a thumbs-up, "Got it!" She then looked over at her dragon, "Smog, when we get behind it give us cover." He gave her a squawk in response.

They held themselves back while he continued to lead it into the sea stacks with his Gronckle Iron shield. Once it got far enough ahead of them, they made their move, Helene made the gesture for 'smoke screen', creating their cover.

Just as they were about to make an attack, it shot a fireball at them, causing them to fall into the top of one of the sea stacks. It came up the side to face Hiccup and roared at him.

Before it could do anything, the twins and their dragon fired at it. It looked away from Hiccup and roared up at them.

"Barf, let him have it!" Ruffnut enthusiastically ordered.

He let out some gas and Belch ignited it, the explosion made contact with it, causing it to growl. Afterwards, Hookfang fired at it as well and it actually seemed to do some type of damage, although it was hard to tell.

"Not so tough after all, are ya?" Snotlout jeered.

It roared in anger and began shooting its spines at them. It couldn't see them due to the smoke, so it had no other choice but to fire in random directions.

"Uh- uh, h-he didn't mean that, sir, uh, uh, m-ma'am, whatever you are!" Fishlegs shuddered.

Stormfly fired at it and her flame was able to make contact with it. It shot more spines, but she was able to avoid them, as did Smog, who was flying right next to her.

Finally, it was done with them and their attacks, it opened its large mouth and a flurry of fireballs came out of it, firing in every direction in an attempt to get one of them. Flames were also coming out from behind its head, which might serve as some type of defense or even ventilation.

This frenzy of fireballs gave them no other choice but to fall back before someone gets hurt. That's only if this dragon doesn't have any more lethal surprises.

By this time, Hiccup was back on Toothless and shining his shield at it again. It turned away from the other riders and their dragons and growled at them before screaming again.

Hiccup patted Toothless on the side of his head, "Come on, let's see if we can use its size against it."

They flew off the top of the sea stacks and began to fly upwards into the clouds. It followed them, determined to catch them for disturbing its territory and its siblings.

They flew up as high as they possibly could in that situation, all the while avoiding the massive, deathly dragon right behind them. This might be one of the few times where admitting that they may have bit off more than they can chew out loud would be acceptable.

Finally, they did a tight nosedive and it followed them. They began to fly straight again, into the larger, taller, and sturdier sea stacks. It broke a few of them as it neared closer to them. Hiccup spotted a massive one not too far in front of them and decided to go for it, it was the perfect place to get rid of this colossal beast.

He looked back at the Screaming Death, "Almost there, big guy."

They flew straight towards the center of the rocky structure, it looked like they were going to fly straight into it, but they pulled up at the last second. The same could not be said for the Screaming Death, it rammed itself head first into it.

It fell to the top of an adjacent sea stack and rocks began to fall from the one it hit, most likely the rocks rumbled due to the force of its body hitting it. Those rocks fell onto its wings, it roared in pain in reaction to this.

It roared as it struggled to get the rocks off of its wings. It was finally able to do so and tried to fly up, only to fall back down.

"It's wings are hurt, it can't fly," he surmised.

The three Whispering Deaths responded to its roars and screams and came to its rescue. They got themselves under its body and began to fly away to get their sibling to safety.

He was astonished by what he was seeing, "Wow, look at that." Toothless growled at the sight of it getting away and Hiccup quickly calmed him, "Whoa, bud, whoa! It's hurt, let it go."

They watched as the smaller dragons carried the larger, wounded one away. Toothless growled one last time before they flew back to the village.

With the four dragons gone, it was time for them to start cleaning up the mess they made. It was definitely not something that could get done in only a day.

Meanwhile, Hiccup gave his report to his father, "I found Outcast markings on a crate in those tunnels. I think Alvin planted those eggs, knowing they would hatch and tear Berk apart. He might not be riding dragons yet, Dad, but he is using them."

"We'll deal with Alvin and his wild dragons later. Right now, we have to fix our water problem," Stoick stated.

"Guys, look!" Helene called out to them.

"The well is filling back up," Fishlegs finished.

They went over to see for themselves and saw that it was filling up again, and fast. Hiccup immediately came to a conclusion about how it was happening, "The Screaming Death's digging must have created a new channel for the water and redirected it back to our well."

Which meant that it was finally bath time for Gobber, which he tried to get away from, "Right, well, I'll be going now-"

Stoick stopped him by putting a hand on his shoulder, "Not so fast, Gobber."

He looked over at the washtub, which was now being filled with water. Ruffnut and Tuffnut were standing next to it with brushes in their hands. He groaned.

Toothless threw him into the washtub and the twins started to scrub him with the brushes. "No!" he cried. "Oh, mercy! Oh, the humanity!"

"Make sure you scrub behind his ears," Stoick told them. "I think I saw a bird fly out of there." The twins pointed and laughed at him and continued to clean him.

Hiccup decided not to stay for the cleaning, he got onto Toothless and they flew away. He had some things to think about.

Astrid and Helene went searching for Hiccup after the bath was finished. The things they saw during and afterwards were far too disgusting to describe.

They finally found him on a cliff and landed next to them. He looked to be in deep thought, he didn't even look at them when they landed.

"There you are. We missed you at the scrub-down," Astrid smiled slightly.

"You should have seen what came out from between his toes," Helene grimaced. Smog agreed by gagging.

"I'm more concerned about what came out from under Berk," he uttered.

"What are you talking about? That thing is long gone," Astrid reminded him.

"I'm not so sure. Whispering Death are known to return to their birthplace and reclaim it as their own," he explained. The two girls exchanged looks with each other.

"So what are you saying, Hiccup?" Helene asked.

"I'm saying I don't think we've seen the last of the Screaming Death," he responded ominously.

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(A/N: Not much of a doozy like I was expecting, but at least I was able to get it done. Although, I won't lie, this took me a long time to write (almost two weeks if you're curious).

Helene and Smog weren't used as much as in other chapters, but I still think it all worked out. There will be a lot more character development with them in these "Defenders of Berk" chapters. Since that is key to any good story, I know that you guys will be sticking around just to see it for yourselves.

If I can intrigue you more, the next chapter is the episode "Worst in Show" and will introduce Helene's Terrible Terror. I'm still debating the name, but I should have it figured out shortly. Her Terror will also serve another, bigger purpose for this story and a certain smoke-breathing dragon. Oops! I think I've said too much already!

Happy New Years Eve and happy New Year everyone! Let's all hope that this new year will be better than the last.)